Starting September 2011, the Chester Youth Court Volunteers (CYCV) student group at Swarthmore College has worked with Youth Court students at Smedley Allied Health High School in Chester, Pennsylvania. Collaborating with students, teachers, and education experts, we have developed lesson plans and activities aimed at building skills that are essential for students in successfully operating a youth court.

By posting these lesson plans here, we hope to not only record the group's institutional history but also make these resources available for other students and adults involved with Youth Court programs. Our group strives to better serve youth court students through feedback and continual reflection, so we welcome your suggestions. Each lesson plan has been revised before posting in order to address issues that arose during class.

If you would like to use any lesson plans published here, please contact us first at chesteryouthcourtvolunteers@gmail.com.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Public Speaking and Presentation//Lesson Plan for Monday, February 14, 2011

Public Speaking and Presentation

Materials of the Chester Youth Court Volunteers at Swarthmore College

Objective:By the end of the lesson plan, students will be able to deliver a polished Youth Court advocatestatement that incorporates the public speaking and presentation techniques ( eye-contact, enunciation, and confidence) as taught in the lesson.

I. Introductory Activity (15 minutes)a. Show students a funny video clip of various public speakers that demonstratesthe strengths and styles of good persuasive public speaking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qIb. Divide students into two groups and within these smaller groups and discuss:

“What are some of the qualities of good public speaking?”

“What are some of your personal goals and ways in which you want to improve your public speaking?”

II. Eye-Contact and Enunciation Activity (20 minutes)a. Ask students to pick a partner and give them sample speeches, which they will read totheir partner while maintaining good eye-contact.b. Pencil Activity: Have students then read the speech while biting a pencil orpen to improve their enunciation.

III. Presentation and Delivery of the Youth Advocate Speech (20-30 minutes)a. Have two college students present the same Youth Advocate Speech. One will speak, exemplifying some of the presentation mistakes that have been discussed previously during class. The other will present the speech with confidence, good enunciation, eye contact, and overall strong delivery. b. Ask the students, “What are the differences between the two speeches?”c. If there is time, break the students up into two groups again and have them each take turnsdelivering a pre-prepared Youth Advocate statement to their group.

IV. Conclusion (5 minutes)a. As a “ticket out," students will, in the large group, volunteer aspects ofgood public speaking and explain why these aspects are important.

About Me

Chester Youth Court Volunteers is a student group at Swarthmore College that works to support the Smedley Allied Health and Chester High School Youth Courts. We also aim to raise awareness of juvenile justice and racial justice issues.
Youth Courts are youth empowerment programs based on restorative justice principles that promote peer justice and encourage civic engagement. They also work to reduce the number of school suspensions and interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.
For more information, contact us at chesteryouthcourtvolunteers@gmail.com